Trinity Inlet declared Fish Habitat Area

Location and plan number

Size and management level

7,164 ha total

  • 5,989 ha Management A
  • 1,175 ha Management B

Declaration history

  • 23 September 1989:
    • original declaration of Admiralty Island and Trinity Inlet Reserves
  • 23 July 1998 redeclaration:
    • to cadastral boundaries
    • Admiralty and Trinity Fish Habitat Areas merged as Trinity Inlet Fish Habitat Area
  • 21 September 2001 redeclaration:
    • to remove land included in error
  • 19 December 2003 redeclaration:
    • to address management issues
  • 7 December 2018 redeclaration:
    • to amend the exclusion zone around the navigation channel
    • remove terrestrial lands from within the outer boundary

Management features

  • Conservation of fisheries values near the major development centre of Cairns
  • Buffer zone from rural or urban development
  • Long history of fisheries and fish habitat research and monitoring in the area

Habitat values

  • Extensive mangrove forests (Rhizophora, Avicennia and Ceriops)
  • Seagrass beds off the esplanade
  • Patchy areas of saltmarsh
  • Intertidal flats

Fisheries values

  • Commercial, recreational and Indigenous fishing
  • Intense recreational crab fishery
  • Important nursery area for several species of fish and penaeid prawns
  • Species:
    • Barramundi
    • Blue salmon
    • Bream
    • Estuary cod
    • Flathead
    • Garfish
    • Grey mackerel
    • Grunter
    • Mangrove jack
    • Queenfish
    • Whiting
    • Tiger prawns
    • Mud crabs

Unique features

  • One of only 2 areas on the east coast of Queensland where Chenopod (succulent shrub) species Pachycomia tenuis has been reported
  • Lies within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and the Trinity Bay net-free fishing zone

Other values

  • None presently identified

References

  • Lawrence M, Sully D, Beumer J and Couchman D 2009, Targeted collection of inventory data for wetlands fish barriers in the Great Barrier Reef Catchment, Final report to the Australian Government, Queensland Department of Primary Industries.